September 30, is dedicated to honoring Saint Jerome, the priest, monk, and Doctor of the Church who is well-known for his remarkable scholarship and his translations of the Bible into Latin for the Vulgate.

Due to the somewhat strong stance he took in expressing his scholarly beliefs and the teachings of the Church, Jerome is revered as a patron of people with difficult personalities in addition to his achievements as a Church Father and his support of later Catholic academia.

Jerome, born around 340 as Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius in present-day Croatia, was taught Christianity by his father, who sent him to Rome for rhetoric and classical literature study. Thus, his early years were characterized by a conflict between worldly interests—which exposed him to a variety of temptations—and an inclination towards a life of faith, which was sparked by frequent outings to the city's Roman catacombs with his friends.

Pope Liberius baptized Jerome in 360, and he made extensive travels around the monastic and intellectual centers of the newly formed Christian kingdom. Once a local crisis brought on by the Arian heresy subsided and he was able to return to his natal city, he studied theology in Trier's renowned schools, where he collaborated closely with two other future saints, Chromatius and Heliodorus, who were both excellent theologians.

In search of a life more like that of the first generation of "desert fathers," Jerome left the Adriatic and headed east to Syria, stopping along the way at a number of significant Greek civic and ecclesiastical centres.

The temptations and hardships that Jerome faced throughout his numerous years as a desert hermit are clearly described in his letters. Nonetheless, after being ordained by the bishop of Antioch, followed by decades of study in Constantinople and service to Pope Damasus I in Rome, Jerome decided to live a solitary and ascetic life at Bethlehem beginning in the mid-380s.

In addition to continuing to mediate and settle disputes within the Church, Jerome also continued to act as a spiritual guide for a community of nuns in Rome who had followed him. His monastery was visited by monks and travelers from a diverse range of countries and cultures.

Challenging himself to study Hebrew from a Christian monk who had converted from Judaism, Jerome rejected pagan literature as background noise. He studied under Jewish rabbis as well, which was quite rare for a Christian priest in the fourth century. He did this in an effort to preserve the link between the Hebrew language and culture and the newly burgeoning Greek and Latin-speaking Christianity.

He was appointed as Pope Damasus' secretary, and it was he who completed the Vulgate commission. Inspired by the events of his life, Jerome devoted fifteen years to translating the majority of the Hebrew Bible into the recognized Latin translation. He was forced to flee Rome due to his severe temperament and scathing criticism of his intellectual rivals, which garnered him many enemies in the Church.

After moving to Bethlehem, Jerome founded a monastery and dedicated the remainder of his life to asceticism, study, and prayer.

St. Jerome died at his Bethlehem monastery in 420, having survived two barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire and a recurrence of riots caused by doctrinal disputes within the Church.

Other Saints of the Day
Saint Midan
Saint Enghenedl
Saint Leopardus
Saint Gregory the Enlightener
Saint Honorius of Canterbury